The St. Louis Cardinals have experienced significant growth on their social media… more

The St. Louis Cardinals are using their social media channels to keep fans updated via tweets, photos and posts, allowing fans to be part of the action while increasing the team's social media fan base.

Ron Watermon, director of public relations and one of the people who manages the Cardinals social media platforms, said the Cardinals' social media accounts have experienced an “explosion” of growth during the playoff season.

The St. Louis Cardinals have experienced significant growth on their social media… more

On Facebook, the Cardinals have added more than 12,000 new fans to its page since last Monday. The Cardinals have about 1.3 million fans on Facebook. On Twitter, more than 14,000 followers have added the Cardinals to their feeds, increasing the Cardinals’ total follower count to 198,054. The Cardinals are also making inroads on Instagram, the popular photo-sharing application. The Cardinals’ Instagram account has grown 427 percent from 980 followers on Sept. 18 to 5,162 followers, according to Watermon.

One of the goals during the postseason is to catch up with the teams the Cardinals are playing against, Watermon said. “I’d love to catch up to the Giants,” he said. Currently, the San Francisco Giants have 1.5 million fans on Facebook and more than 315,000 followers on Twitter.

Chris Tunno, part of the Cardinals media relations team, provides the Cardinals’ Twitter page with up-to-date stats during the game. While the Cardinals do provide updates throughout the game, Watermon said they try not to do play-by-Twitter posts, but rather post updates that add value to the baseball experience. He said the Cardinals use their social media accounts to provide insider access to players and behind-the-scenes content of the club in general.

The Cardinals teamed up with MLB Advanced Media, the Internet and interactive media arm of Major League Baseball, to share the load of postgame coverage. Watermon said there is a group of about 25 people in New York, called the Social Media Bullpen, that provide social media coverage from the league's perspective.

Back in St. Louis, the Cardinals are continuing their promotions on social media into the postseason. The team is using Instagram for its “Fan of the Day” promotion, in which fans submit Cardinals-related images using the hashtag #cardsgram. The Cardinals are also continuing Facebook Fridays with Fredbird, which the team launched in June. Since then, Watermon said they’ve gained quite the following of devoted fans, known as Fred Heads. "We have about 15 to 25 folks who have made it to more than a couple of Fridays," he said.

The St. Louis Cardinals take on the San Francisco Giants in the second game of the National League Championship Series starting at 7 p.m. in San Francisco.